The One with Fox at 3

Monday, October 14, 2013

Happy birthday to my favorite 3-year-old boy in the whole wide world: My fantastic Mr. Fox!
It seems like only yesterday that he was born and made me a mommy. Hard to believe three entire years have gone flown by.

The last time I did one of these "Fox at such-n-such age" was when he was 2 1/2 years old. Lots of things have changed, but lots of things are the same! Here are his stats:

So he's right on track for growth, with kind of a big head, like always!

This morning we opened presents first thing. He got more of the same things he likes: cars, dinosaurs, a book, puzzles, a hockey set, and a really cool little bicycle care of Grandpa Tom.
Chris had a tradition with his Pops growing up to go out for birthday breakfast and Chris is passing this tradition along to our own kids, starting on their 2nd birthday. So once again he took Fox out on his birthday to a little bakery for treats (notice the toy in his hand - some things never change!).
Fox is so enthusiastic about everything. He loves going out and doing things which is awesome because we sure are doing a lot of that. We say, "Fox, are you excited to go on an adventure on Saturday?" and he yells, "YEEEEAH!"
He's been some pretty cool places in his short little 3 year life so far. Budapest, Prague, many German towns, and lots of trips planned in the near future. Too bad he won't remember any of it!
Then again, he STILL talks about Disneyland!
He has a crazy good memory. For example: we went to the housing office multiple times the first month we were here in Germany and there was a pair of ceramic chickens on the receptionist's desk and a couple of times she gave him bread. We had to go back to that building last week and he exclaimed, "Chickens! Bread!" as we were walking up the steps. However, we couldn't go to that office because of the ruddy government shutdown (don't even get me started) which resulted in the biggest tantrum he has ever had.

I call this, BIRTH CONTROL:

All because I told him no we couldn't go see the chickens! Holy moly this guy can have tantrums like what. If looks could kill he'd be an orphan!
He loves Jane but he can also be so mean to her. He gave her a big scar on her face by ramming a little toy stroller into her head and just chipped her front tooth this weekend by knocking her over and she landed on a glass bottle of 7up. Scar face snaggle tooth all because of Fox! It's sad.

But like I said, he can be really sweet with her and shares snacks and sweets with her. Sharing toys? Not so much.

I LOVE when they play together and watch movies together. It's quite sweet. But boy do they keep me on my toes. In case you're wondering, we're not planning to have any more kids any time soon. At least 'til we're done with Germany.

He still loves all things "boy". Trains, planes, cars, any mode of transportation and actually going on said modes of transportation (he loves subways/metros and buses), dinosaurs, monsters, bugs, spiders, sharks, zoo animals, so many more things. He likes lots of things. Pretty much everything you could possibly think of that a boy would like.

I know some parents have a really hard transition going from a crib to a real bed. We were planning to keep him in a crib until he asked to sleep in a big boy bed. But moving to Germany put a dent in our plans. However, the first night we slept outside of our South Pasadena home, he slept on the floor of my aunt and uncle's house and he didn't try to get up or anything. When we got to my parent's house he slept on a queen bed and never tried getting down or out. So when we got to Germany we put him in a twin-sized bed and he's done just fine. He doesn't come down off his bed until we come and get him or tell him to come downstairs. Isn't that crazy? He can definitely get down, but he just doesn't. Counting my blessings there.

He even takes a 2-3 hour nap every day still. Thank goodness! Those 2-3 hours every day while Fox and Jane simultaneously nap are my saving grace. Every day I think I'm a horrible mom/person for loving nap time so much. What can I say though? I need some "me" time!

Fox still LOVES church! Sacrament meeting is still a bust. I don't know why my children can't sit for an hour and I look around and see lots of other kids sitting quietly and coloring. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm just hoping he'll get it eventually and learn to sit still. He LOVES Nursery so much still because he gets to play with toys for 2 hours! Little does he know his world is about to turn upside down in January when he starts going to Primary where there aren't any toys... But he loves other kids and making friends and singing songs so I hope he enjoys it. Plus, I just got a calling as the teacher for 4 year olds so I'll be in the Primary room when he is. Knowing him though, I'll probably be more of a distraction than a help... Anyway, I digress.

I think Fox has a great head of hair. Yeah, I said it! It grows so fast and is nice and thick and can be styled lots of different ways. Do I actually take the time to style it daily though? Ha. Add it to my list of things to do :)

He makes me laugh. He makes me cry.

He talks ALL. DAY. LONG. Sometimes he says some pretty funny things. I'm trying to write them down as he says them and will probably do a post of them in the future. Most of the time he's just asking me to do things for him, fix (or "pix" as he calls it) something, get something, do this, do that, let's go here, let's go there, let's play, let's go downstairs, let's read a book, let's watch a show, let's color, let's go outside, so on and so forth.

This kid LOVES Halloween to his core. It's in his genes. Like mother like son. Really though, it's quite funny how much he loves all things spooky and Halloween-related: pumpkins, ghosts (that's what he wants to be for Halloween), spiders, owls, skeletons, and of course, candy. He carries his toys around in a pumpkin trick-or-treat bucket for Pete's sake.

Wherever we go, we have to take a collection of toys with us. It's funny to see his toy of the day because it changes every day or every few days.

He could live on fruit snacks, candy, and ice cream, but couldn't we all? We try to limit his sweets intake so when he does eat real food he likes any kind of pasta. No sauce whatsoever or he freaks out. He loves broccoli, edamame beans (random right?), hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries, popcorn, and lots of kinds of chips and crackers.

He wore regular underwear our entire trip to Prague this weekend and didn't have a single accident! I'd say he's 100% potty trained! Woo hoo! That was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I think because we waited until he was almost 3.

6:30am - Wake up, go potty, and get dressed
6:45am - Breakfast, usually cereal ("cemial"), grapes, banana, sometimes bacon and eggs when we get fancy
7:00am - 12:00pm - Operation entertain Fox (and Jane). This consists of various combinations of the following: walks outside, going to the park, running errands, playing cars, watching a movie, eating snacks, playing with friends and/or Jane, making messes, etc. Starting tomorrow he will go to preschool Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-11:30am. I'm so excited for him because he's so excited!
12:00pm - Lunchtime!
1:00pm - 3:30pm - Nap time! He still is a great napper - yay!!
3:30pm - 5:00pm - Continue with operation entertain Fox (and Jane)
5:00pm - Dinner, some kind of meat and potatoes, or pizza, or chicken and rice, etc.
6:30pm - Bathtime!
7:00pm - Spend time with Daddy before bedtime which almost always includes popcorn.
7:30pm - Bedtime! He goes to sleep without any difficulty and sleeps straight through the night.
6:30am - Repeat!

This was quite a nice post. I have a 2 1/2 years old daughter myself and take a lot of notes in a book for when she's older. I guess your posts will be great for Fox (and Jane) to read later on.

Loved the tantrum video!

I wanted to say, I'm with you on the ''me'' time. I need them so badly, you wouldn't believe! So dont feel guilty! I feel like such a selfish person sometimes. But I don't think we are. When we are with our kids, we take good care of them, we play all kinds of games and take them outside every day, right? Right!

He is such a cutie!! Hope he has a great birthday! And I was laughing about the part about sitting still in church, and not knowing what you're doing wrong!! HA! I think that all of the time. Reese can't be still or quiet for more than a 2 second time span. One of my favorite phrases for all 3 of them is, "do you see other kids acting like that??!!"! :)

Happy birthday to Fox! I felt I just have to share this with you - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE It's a video for a song called "The Fox." Not sure if this is a thing in Germany, but I thought you might get a laugh out of it! It's a bit bizarre, but just funny since your son's name is Fox!

I had to chuckle as I read your post. My son was 3 in July and it seems like he and Fox are a lot alike!

When I watched your video, my husband assumed it was our 9-month-old daughter who had woken up screaming, and was unimpressed at my chuckles over your "birth control" comment - I have to be honest though, I completely understand your pain! I could have made at least 3 similar videos of my little guy just today... with a little added lying on the floor kicking and screaming.

Enjoy your nap times - sadly mine have disappeared, except when he is sick - and DO NOT feel guilty about it! I don't think there's a momma out there who sits down during naptime and thinks to herself, "Gee, I wish my kids weren't sleeping right now!"...

welcome!

I’m from Seattle. Chris is from Denver. We met at BYU and got married in 2007 in Nauvoo, IL. Chris graduated from the USC School of Dentistry in 2013 through an Army scholarship and then we were stationed in Grafenwöhr, Germany for 4 years! We visited 43 countries while living in Europe and miss it every day! We now live in Littleton, CO where Chris works at his dream job as a dentist at Old Town Dental. I’m a stay-at-home-working-mom to our son Fox and daughter Jane. Scrapbooking is my passion and I have my own signature collections with Pink Paislee calledFANCY FREE, TAKE ME AWAY, OH MY HEART, TURN THE PAGE, PICK-ME-UP, WHIMSICAL, HORIZON, & TRULY GRATEFUL. I’m a teacher at Big Picture Classes, on the Scrapbook & Cards Today design team, I make and release 10 new Silhouette cut files every week, and I have an Etsy shop on the side. I love teaching in-person scrapbooking and bookbinding workshops whenever and wherever I can! Thanks for stopping by!